Agenda: new Government initiatives to support the economy.
Meeting of the Presidium of the Government Commission on the Sustainable Development of the Russian Economy amid the Sanctions
Mikhail Mishustin’s opening remarks:
Good afternoon, colleagues,
During the previous meeting of the response centre, we approved a plan of priority actions. We are now preparing, almost on a daily basis, amendments to laws and normative acts.
One more package of proposals was prepared last week. It includes many of the measures we discussed during a meeting with the President. All of them have been coordinated in detail and cover several spheres.
Under the current circumstances, many companies need to promptly arrange the batch production of materials and components that were previously imported. Therefore, we will add a special programme to stimulate the creation of design documents by Russian companies. A resolution to this effect has been drafted and submitted to the Government.
We have the means to increase support for small and medium-sized enterprises through so-called offset contracts. Such arrangements guarantee that investors in projects of importance for our regions have access to projects within the framework of state purchases and, for a specified period, to the market, which will allow businesses to more accurately calculate their risks and, as the result, to streamline their expenditure. Therefore, it has been proposed to bring down the minimum investment from 1 billion roubles to 100 million roubles, and to allow companies to build a new facility in one region of Russia while signing a guaranteed purchase agreement in another region.
Such changes will lead to the increasing involvement of smaller companies, and help launch projects that are better suited to the needs of specific regions. New jobs will be created sooner.
The main thing is to make sure that these measures are not detrimental to competition.
This is not the only solution to support small and medium-sized businesses, which is supposed to supplement their plans. For example, the list of regions eligible for federal subsidies to set up industrial and technology parks may be expanded. Currently, this opportunity is only available to 10 regions, which have a particularly challenging socioeconomic situation. There are plans to double that number. In this way many more companies will be able to get premises and access to the necessary infrastructure to develop their businesses.
As for other sectoral measures, there are proposals to support the import of pharmaceutical products and medical devices by simplifying their registration, facilitating procurement procedures and subsidising interest rates on the loans provided to manufacturers or distributors, as well as to further implement the programme of import substitution of much-demanded medicines and medical products. People should be able to buy the necessary medicines despite any sanctions. This is extremely important both for all our citizens and for core businesses.
In the power sector, it is important to support companies that were going to complete new power plants or launch additional facilities in the near future but are unable to do so because of the changes in the market. Under the current rules, fines and penalties would have started to accrue. We suggest postponing this measure and giving businesses the opportunity to complete the facilities later. We will also allow grid companies to retain the level of investments in the development of their facilities.
